Mark 6 - New Catholic Bible (NCB)

Chapter 6

Jesus Is Rejected at Nazareth.^{[a] 1} Departing from that district, Jesus went to his hometown accompanied by his disciples. ² On the Sabbath, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many of those who heard him asked in amazement, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that he has been granted? What mighty deeds he performs! ³ Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother^[b] of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not his sisters here with us?” And so they took offense at him.

⁴ Then Jesus said to them, “A prophet is always treated with honor except in his hometown, and among relatives, and in his own house.” ⁵ And he was unable to perform any mighty works there, aside from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. ⁶ He was amazed at their lack of faith.

Who Is Jesus?^[c]

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve on Mission.^[d] Jesus traveled through the villages teaching. ⁷ Calling the Twelve together, he began to send them out two by two, with authority over unclean spirits. ⁸ He instructed them to take nothing for their journey except a walking staff—no bread, no sack, no money in their purses. ⁹ They were to wear sandals but not to take along a second tunic.

¹⁰ He said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, you are to stay there until you leave the area. ¹¹ And if any will not welcome you and refuse to listen to you, leave them immediately and shake off the dust that is on your feet in testimony against them.” ¹² Then they set off and preached the need for repentance. ¹³ They cast out many demons, and they anointed with oil many people who were sick and cured them.^[e]

¹⁴ The Name of Jesus Becomes Renowned.^[f] King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become renowned, and some people were saying, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why such powers are at work in him.” ¹⁵ But others said, “He is Elijah,” while still others proclaimed, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” ¹⁶ But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised from the dead.”

¹⁷ The Death of John the Baptist.^[g] It was this same Herod who had ordered John to be arrested and put in chains in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because Herod had married her. ¹⁸ For John had told Herod, “It is unlawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”

¹⁹ As for Herodias, she was filled with resentment against John and wanted to have him killed, but she was unable to do so, ²⁰ because Herod was afraid of John, knowing him to be a holy and righteous man. Therefore, he protected him from harm. When he heard John speak, he was greatly perplexed by his words, but even so he liked to listen to him.

²¹ Her opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his court officials and military officers and the leaders of Galilee. ²² When the daughter of Herodias came in, she performed a dance that delighted Herod and his guests. The king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you.” ²³ And he solemnly swore to her, “Whatever you ask I will give you, even half of my kingdom.”

²⁴ The girl went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” She replied, “The head of John the Baptist.” ²⁵ The girl then hurried back to the king and made her request, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”

²⁶ The king was greatly distressed, but because of the oath he had sworn and the presence of the guests, he was unwilling to break his word to her. ²⁷ Therefore, he immediately ordered an executioner to bring him John’s head. The man went off and beheaded him in the prison. ²⁸ Then he brought in the head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl in turn gave it to her mother. ²⁹ When John’s disciples heard about this, they came and removed his body and laid it in a tomb.

³⁰ The Return of the Twelve. The apostles^[h] returned to Jesus and reported to him all that they had done and taught. ³¹ He said to them, “Come away with me, by yourselves, to a deserted place and rest for a while.” For people continued to come and go in great numbers, and they had no time even to eat.

³² And so they went off by themselves in a boat to a deserted place. ³³ Now many people saw them departing and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. ³⁴ As Jesus went ashore and beheld the vast crowd, he had compassion on them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

³⁵ Jesus Feeds Five Thousand Men.^[i] When it began to be late in the day, his disciples came up to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and it is getting very late. ³⁶ Send the people away now so that they can go to the farms and villages in the area and buy something for themselves to eat.” ³⁷ He replied, “Give them something to eat yourselves.” They said to him, “Are we to go and spend two hundred denarii^[j] on bread for them to eat?” ³⁸ He asked, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” When they found out, they reported: “Five loaves, and two fish.”

³⁹ Then he ordered them to have all the people sit down on the green grass in groups. ⁴⁰ They sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. ⁴¹ Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples to distribute among the people. He also divided the two fish among them. ⁴² They all ate and were satisfied. ⁴³ Then they gathered up the fragments of the bread and fish—twelve full baskets.^{[k] 44} Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men.

⁴⁵ Jesus Walks on the Water.^[l] Immediately afterward, Jesus instructed his disciples to get into the boat and to go on ahead to Bethsaida on the other side of the lake while he dismissed the crowd. ⁴⁶ And when he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray.

⁴⁷ When evening came, the boat was far out on the water while he was alone on the shore. ⁴⁸ He could see that the disciples were having difficulty in rowing the boat in the face of a headwind. Around the fourth watch of the night he came toward them, walking on the water. He was going to pass by them, ⁴⁹ but when the disciples saw him walking on the water they thought it was a ghost and they cried out, ⁵⁰ for they all had seen him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them, saying, “Have courage! It is I!^[m] Do not be afraid!” ⁵¹ Then he got into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were utterly astounded, ⁵² for they had not understood about the loaves. Their minds were closed.

⁵³ Jesus Heals the Sick at Gennesaret.^[n] After they had completed the crossing, they landed at Gennesaret and moored the boat. ⁵⁴ When they disembarked, the people recognized Jesus immediately. ⁵⁵ They rushed throughout the entire countryside, and began to bring the sick to him on pallets wherever they heard he was. ⁵⁶ Everywhere he went, whether to village or town or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak. And all who touched it were completely healed.

Footnotes

1. Mark 6:1 This story of a breach completes the second section of the first part. See note on Mt 13:53-58.
2. Mark 6:3 Brother: see note on Mt 12:46.
3. Mark 6:6 The very term “Messiah” is charged with too many facile hopes and misunderstandings, and Jesus avoids using it. If he reveals himself, it is through words and actions in the midst of events and encounters. The tragic end of John the Baptist prefigures his own destiny. Jesus bears witness to the goodness of God, shepherd of his people, and nourishes human beings with his word and his bread. His relationship with the disciples becomes closer and closer. Despite their failure to attain a full understanding of who he is, they are given the grace to recognize him as the Messiah.
4. Mark 6:6 Jesus impresses on the disciples that the preaching of the Gospel demands a genuine and unconditional detachment from earthly things.
5. Mark 6:13 At the time of Jesus, oil was frequently used to heal sickness. The anointing by the apostles set forth the healing power conferred on them by Jesus and prefigured the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick.
6. Mark 6:14 Jesus’ name is known even in the palace of the tetrarch of Galilee: Antipas, a son of Herod the Great; out of habit, the people continue to call this Herod “king.”
7. Mark 6:17 See note on Mt 14:1-12.
8. Mark 6:30 Apostles: this word occurs in Mark only here; it is also found in some manuscripts in Mk 3:14. The apostles were authorized representatives of Jesus, and in this sense it is used in the New Testament of the Twelve (Mk 3:14) and also of Paul (Rom 1:1). In a broader sense it is applied to a larger group including Barnabas (Acts 14:14), James, “brother of the Lord” (Gal 1:19), and possibly Andronicus and Junia (Rom 16:7). See also note on Mk 3:13-19.
9. Mark 6:35 See notes on Mt 14:13-21; 14:19; and 14:21.
10. Mark 6:37 Two hundred denarii: two hundred days’ wages, for a day’s wage was one denarius (see Mt 20:2).
11. Mark 6:43 The Jews regarded bread as a gift of God. Accordingly, the scraps that fell during a meal were to be picked up and placed in small wicker baskets that people carried about. The disciples each filled a basket.
12. Mark 6:45 See notes on Mt 14:22-33 and 14:25.
13. Mark 6:50 It is I: literally, “I am,” the formula that reveals the name of the Lord in the Old Testament (see Ex 3:14; Isa 41:4, 10, 14; 43:1-3, 10, 13). Hence, the evangelist is alluding to Jesus as the Son of God.
14. Mark 6:53 The verses describe the responses of Jesus to the crowd’s interest in him; they believe in his power to alleviate their sufferings.